Thump—!

My body shakes from head to toe from the impact of the Cerberus's landing, causing an uncomfortable feeling to rise in my stomach.

At this point, I feel like I should just stay still and let whatever happens happens.

“By the way, Bery… is it fine for you to... betray your master… Like this?”

Eden’s voice travels to my ears from the back of the Cerberus. And the head on my right barks in response.

“H-hong!”

“But it is... though,” says Eden.

“Hnnnnnggg~”

“But you decided to do it… Because of love… So it’s fine.”

—Is it?

I don’t actually know what they’re talking about, I just retorted out of habit.

The Cerberus continues to hop from rooftop to rooftop while receiving head pats from Eden with its two other heads. Eventually, the floating feeling in my stomach becomes too much for me to handle, and I’m starting to really miss the ground.

I can’t take this anymore~! Please, put me down already~!

Too dizzy to open my mouth, I know that my pleading would go unanswered. Yet somehow, an angelic voice from above responds to my prayer.

“We should land… Bery.”

—Little Eden, you're my angel!

“Hooong…” the Cerberus lets out a drawn-out whine from one of its heads.

“Eden understands… that you’re in a hurry… But Miw… is feeling uncomfortable.”

I try to tell the Cerberus to listen to her by flailing my arms around—and end up making myself feel worse and instantly regret it.

“Huff!”

The Cerberus flares its nose, letting out two small bursts of ominous red flame. It lowers itself before taking a giant leap into the air and, after a final dizziness-inducing fall, lands violently on the center of an open plaza.

After being released from the Cerberus's jaw, I fall to my knees and use both my hands to support myself while taking several deep breaths.

“Haa… Haa…"

—Ah, the safety of mother Astrea. If I kiss the ground right now, would I be seen as a crazy girl?

“Hey... Miw.”

I feel a tap on my shoulder, and I turn around. Eden’s standing by the despicable three-headed dog and, judging from the slight furrowing of her brows, she seems worried about my well-being.

I can’t even remember the last time Boss, Bell, or Kevin asked how I’m doing. So having someone who cares about me for once is making me a little bit emotional...

“T-thank you, Eden. I’m feeling alright now.”

I wipe away the tears from the corners of my eyes and put on my best smile to reassure her.

However…

“No… Eden wants to ask… about the others,” Eden says as she points past my shoulder.

“Huh?”

I turn to look behind me. And once I do, what I see causes my entire body to freeze up in shock.

Broken lamps, flipped-over tables. The plaza that was always bustling no matter what time of day is now in a state of complete shamble. Bodies littered the ground: males, females, sprawling all over the place messily.

From some of them, dark red liquid can be seen flowing under their bodies, along with a heavy and revolting scent….

I cover my nose and walk over to check on the nearest person. And the closer I get the clearer the stench becomes.

I flip over their body and suck in a cold breath.

—Sure enough, these people...

“They passed out from drinking too much.”

“...”

“All of them.”

I look around one more time, totally flabbergasted. This is the reason why the streets were so deserted before? The sheer absurdity of the people in this city somehow keeps finding ways to make me speechless.

“Is this… normal… around these parts?” Eden asks while tilting her head a little.

“Well I wouldn’t say that, but the range of normal here is pretty broad so...” I tell her, trying not to let my disappointment show on my face.

—Truthfully, this isn’t the weirdest thing some people here get up to.

“Uh, anyways. We seem to have already arrived at the House of Mistresses.” I gesture toward the massive pagoda towering high above the plaza. “Do you still want to go there?”

After looking around at the scene of carnage a little.

“Um.” Eden nods.

The Cerberus lets out a lazy yawn with all three of its heads simultaneously, and all three of us continue to head toward our destination.

Along the way, we encountered more people passed out drunk. Some leaning against a trash can, others bending over some guardrail. I tried—and failed—to wake some of them up and ask what was going on. But as we got closer and closer to the House of Mistress, the numbers of people lessened, and eventually, they all disappeared.

The Undercity has always been many things—the domain of the Goddess of Lust, the home of the Chaos Angels—but the one thing it has never been is peaceful.

As such, I can’t help but find the silence almost haunting.

“It’s quiet. Way too quiet.”

“Eden… thinks so too.”

“Hong!”

We arrive at the wooden bridge that overpasses a large canal, leading to the grand entrance of the House of Mistresses. Above a series of steps, the large sliding door remains open; the light that shines from within indicates that there might finally be some waking people here.

Cautiously, we step through the door.

A vast, spacious lounge filled with numerous tables to accommodate the countless guests that regularly filled them. The corridor at the far end leads to an even more luxurious central hall and the lamps and lanterns that hang from both sides of the walls where two sets of stairs lead up to the second level. Everything is the same as I remember.

However, as the lamps flicker and sway, illuminating the entrance hall in a reddish hue—no sign of life can be found.

“This place has never been empty," I mutter to myself. The sight of the unattended tables honestly start to make me a little scared.

“Hnnng~...” The cerberus winces.

“Maybe we should try... calling out?” Eden proposes after looking around.

Despite the uneasy atmosphere I bite my lips and answer her.

“I supposed there's nothing to be afraid of, right?” So, I put my hands beside my face and call out as loud as I can, “H-hello~! Is there anyone here~?”

My voice echoes within the hall before reverberating up the stairs and fading into the darkened hallway of the second floor. For a moment, there’s no response.

—But then…

Woosh~!

A strong gust of wind rushes past my face. The light goes out. And the door behind us slams shut like some kind of opening of a horror story.

“Ah.”

—Turns out there’s something to be afraid of after all.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah—!”

I scream and turn around, rushing to grab the door handles and attempt to pry them apart. But to my horror, no matter how hard I try to open the door, it won’t budge.

“W-what’s going on? Lady Lucianna?”

Panicking, I begin calling the name of the master of this domain, my Lady Lucianna. Yet there’s no response from her either.

This is strange! Too strange!

I try prying the door open again but the result is the same. I let go of the door’s handles and take a step back. The darkness settles around me. Unease continues to rise in my chest.

And that’s when a small hand reached out to grab mine.

In the pitch-black darkness, that hand pulls me closer. And for a second, the panic within my heart disappeared.

"Eden?"

"Shhhh..."

With a hush, Eden signals me to be quiet. Then, from behind me, I hear the growl of that Cerberus.

"Grrrrrrr~!"

Along with its eyes and the scarlet fire that seeps from its breath, one by one the lamps on the walls light up, illuminating our surroundings.

Once my eyes adjust to the light, I find myself in a peculiar situation. Somehow, the three of us are now standing in a long, empty, and dimly lit corridor.

—Where… is this place?

"Is this… the inside… of the pagoda?" Eden asks.

"It would seem so..." After looking around, I absentmindedly answer her.

Eden releases my hand and examines the surroundings as well. She places her hand on the nearby wall, before tracing the wooden surface with curiosity.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"How did we… get here?"

"After the light went out? Probably some kind of teleportation?"

—Though I’m as unsure of that as I could possibly be of anything.

"Hgggh…"

Behind us, the Cerberus wags its tails and shuffles its massive body. The lamps on the walls flare up, revealing what was previously hidden in the dark. Lined up along either side of the corridor are numerous large sliding doors, decorated with golden floral patterns and shut-closed in a way that gives off a sense of isolation.

And... despite having countless memories inside this place, a sense of unfamiliarity is the only thing that jumps out at me right now.

“I don’t recognize this corridor...”

Eden looks up at me with a slightly raised eyebrow, and I go on to elaborate.

“Ah, I mean, it’s just a feeling. I used to live here a long time ago, you see? And well, I can’t claim to know the House of Mistresses inside out but...”

I pause and look around, letting my words trail off.

Why did we suddenly appear here when we were just standing in the entrance hall? What’s with the absence of people? And most importantly… Why doesn’t Lady Lucianna respond to my presence?

Despite having calmed down from the initial panic, the unsettling feeling inside me only continues to grow.

“So what.. should we do?”

With a calm, unperturbed voice that’s the exact opposite of my internal distress, Eden asks me.

Ah, that’s right. Right now I should focus on our own safety first before figuring out the rest.

“Well, as long as this corridor is just like any other in the house, we should be able to find the stairwell if we just keep walking,” I tell her, trying to put on a smile.

Eden briefly adjusts the straps of her bag while looking at me, and nods.

“Okay...”

We begin to make our way down the corridor. The sounds of our footsteps echo within the silence.

Probably because of that, I’m able to notice the slight bounce in Eden’s footsteps. This girl… Why does she seem more excited than concerned, really?

“Um… so, Little Eden—”

Poof~

I began to speak, but immediately shut my mouth when I hear a strange sound coming from somewhere.

I look behind me, past the giant body of that dumb Cerberus. Far in the distance, some of the lamps that hang from the walls simply die, and the parts of the corridor that they used to illuminate are now consumed by complete and total—darkness.

I gulp unconsciously. But since there’s no reason to panic just yet. I keep walking forward.

But then I hear it again.

Poof~!

This time, along with another part of the corridor disappearing into darkness, the scarlet flames contained within each and every single lamp around us also begin to periodically flicker.

I take another step.

Poof~!

—And another one goes out.

“Hey...”

Sweat forms on my brows. The Cerberus groans a little. I look at Eden, and Eden looks at me. We both seem to agree that something's definitely wrong.

Without a second thought, all three of us turn around and begin walking away from that part of the corridor with hastened steps.

As soon as we start doing that, the flickering becomes more rapid and prolonged, giving way to the encroaching darkness.

We quicken our feet even more, but the lamps also start going out faster and faster.

“Tch—!”

I click my tongue and forcefully grab Eden’s hand. My instinct screams at me to get out of this corridor as fast as I could. So I rush for the nearest door handle and try to pull them aside.

Thankfully, without much resistance, the door slides open.

But... Did I just hear the sound of someone snickering coming from inside? Isn't that a really, really bad sign? Ah, whatever!

I bite my lips and step into the room, pulling Eden along with me. And after the door immediately slams shut just as I expected.

—13 pairs of eyes simultaneously turn to look at us.

And, surprisingly, I recognize them all.

"Miwari, is that you?"

—Roxxi, Rinne, Yue, Xue, Kitsuha, Nana, Linlin, Minjee, Miho, Tsukiyo, Hyong-ran, Kanna, and Frul.

Dark hair, red eyes. Dressed in elegant court attires. They’re the children of the Lady of Redlamps.

Or in other words—my sisters.

“Miwariii~~!!”

The moment our eyes meet, the second youngest sister, Thirteenth Sister [Frul], jumps at me.

“I miss you so much!”

I stumble backward, only barely managing not to fall down. I try pushing the girl who’s half a head taller than me from my personal space. But she stands her ground and strengthens her embrace, almost suffocating me.

—Ah, that’s right. Despite being older than me by a generation, Frul has always been the one who acts the most childish around me.

“Where have you been? Why are you here? Oh, and how did you get in?”

“Um... Uhhh.”

“Long time no see, Miwari.”

As I struggle within Frul’s embrace. [Roxxi], our oldest sister, walks toward the two of us with a smile as gentle as the moonlight.

“H-hello. Big sis Roxxi,” I stutter out a greeting.

“You have chosen to come to visit at a very peculiar time,”

“There were some… unexplainable circumstances.”

—My and my friends were on a ‘quest’ to kidnap—I mean to recruit young and beautiful angels from the side of the street in the city of Anorlon… right, there’s no way I’ll say that.

“I see. Well, I’m glad to be able to see you again.” First Sister Roxxi smiles before her face turns gloomy again. “Even though this means that all of us are in kind of a big trouble right now.”

“Big trouble?”

“By the way, who is this?”

As I finally struggle to break free from Frul’s embrace and keep her at bay with my arm-length distancing technique, the existence of Eden is finally pointed out by our ninth sister [Miho].

“Nice to meet you... my name is Eden.”

The golden-haired girl wearing a round hat bows slightly to everyone.

Seeing Eden’s appearance, all of my sisters’ eyes light up with interest. One of them, especially.

To somewhat protect Little Eden from my sister's scarlet gazes, I pull her closer to me. A gesture that wouldn’t go unnoticed by them.

“Oh, ho, ho, ho. So is she the reason that you’re coming to visit today, Miwari?” Miho pushes herself forward from within the crowd and asks.

“No, no, no, definitely not. Please don’t be weird.” I wave my hands hurriedly.

—Well, actually, yes, now that I think about it… But please don’t insinuate anything!

“Um, she’s a friend from Anorlon. We met when my group was traveling there for—business reasons. And she asked me to bring her to look around, so I brought her here.”

I quickly come up with a plausible-sounding excuse for Eden’s appearance, hoping that she’s quick enough to not contradict me. And by the look in her eyes I manage to catch a glimpse of in the split second I glance at her, she seems to understand it.

“A girl like you coming from the city of Angels to this grimy place? It’s dangerous, you know?”

Our sixth sister [Nana] lowers herself and speaks to Eden directly.

“Eden knows… But it seems… Like fun.”

Hearing that, the Fourth oldest sister, [Xue], looks at me skeptically and asks.

“You didn’t lure her with a promise of candy or anything like that, did you?”

“Is your opinion of me that low, Sister Xue…?” I ask her back with lifeless eyes.

‘Maa, maa. I’m only kidding Miwari,” Fourth Sister Xue smiles and wags her hands dismissively.

—Seriously, to say something like that, I’ll have you know that my bottom line is much higher than every single one of you combined.

But wait, we did kidnap her...

Regardless, I insist on that fact!

"Anyways, so you two were walking around, the light went out, and you found yourself here, right?" Second Sister [Rinne], brings the subject to our current situation.

“H-how did you know?” I panic slightly.

“Because that’s what happened to us too.” Seventh Sister [Linlin] starts to explain. “It started off like any other day where business was going as usual. I was serving the guests when there was some commotion downstairs and a lot of people started rushing out of the building. But before we could call out to any of them to ask what’s going on. The light all simultaneously goes out.”

“I was in the kitchen at the time. It startled me quite a bit.” Eighth Sister [Minjee] says while using her index fingers to prop up her chin.

“And the next thing we know, we’re stuck here,” First Sister Roxxi concludes.

“Eh? What do you mean we’re stuck here?”

“We can’t get out, you see? In fact, we can’t go anywhere inside the house at all with any guarantee of safety,” says Third Sister Yue again.

—Heh?!

“Lady Lucianna has also not been responding to our prayers. And none of us know why,” says Fifth Sister [Kitsuha].

—Hehh?!

“There are more than 500 rooms in the House of Mistresses, you know? If we open the door with the chance of any room being on the other side, then there’s no way for us to thoroughly search through every room to find an exit, right?” says Tenth Sister [Tsukiyo].

“More than that, If we close the door, the room changes. If the light flickers, the room changes. If for a moment our surroundings are consumed by darkness, our surroundings change." Eleventh Sister [Hyong-ran] adds.

Hearing the increasingly dire circumstance, blood slowly drains from my face.

“Have you... tried just finding the stairwell?”

I propose meekly. And our twelfth oldest sister who has not said anything until now, [Kanna], becomes the first to respond to my question.

“The lights in the hallway are flickering... so we couldn’t get very far before we were teleported back here.”

“..”

So we’re stuck…

—Wait.

Just when it seems like we’re all out of options. I get hit with a brilliant idea.

“Wait, then isn’t it a simple matter of stopping the lights from flickering? Hey, Bery, can't you just do the thing you just did earlier...”

But when I turn around to look for the giant three-headed Cerberus standing behind me—

“Hnnnng...”

—I only hear a soft whimper...

When I look down. A small black-furred puppy is sitting on the floor, placing its tongue weakly out while looking absolutely miserable.

Eden picks up Bery the Cerberus and holds it close to her chest.

I don’t know how, but the car-sized mythical beast from earlier can now be held up with those thin-looking arms.

“It seems to be… because… he’s hungry,” Eden looks up at me and says.

“Hong…”

“...”

—Why does it have to be right now, huh?! Does that mean we’re going to be stuck in here too? What’s with today, really? Give me a break!

My expression is frozen solid. But almost as if reading my thoughts, Eden speaks up again with a clear voice.

“But there might be… another way.”

—————……….

[ Undercity - Third District Entrance ]

Meanwhile, as Eden, Berry the Cerberus, and Miwari were having their little adventure inside the House of Mistresses, the three of her friends were still standing around the van’s wreckage trying to figure out the mystery of the current state of the Undercity.

“Missing people, ravaged streets, no matter how you look at it, all the evidence points toward one explanation.”

Boss narrowed her eyes and hammered her fist on her palm.

“They’re throwing a massive party without us!”

“Somehow your endless optimism never ceased to surprise me, Boss,” Bell, who was sitting with a bored expression by the side of the street, absentmindedly pointed out.

“What optimism? It’s the only conclusion that makes sense. I bet they’re giving out free drinks and everything.”

“Are sure you’re not just trying to escape reality at this point?”

“Shut uuup~!”

Boss crossed her arms and pouted. She felt that her friends’ constant skepticism of almost all of her ideas was rather unfounded. After all, most of the time she would turn out to be right, for better or for worse.

—Usually for worse.

Grumpily, Boss turned to Kevin, who was still trying to see if there was anything he could do for the van.

“How about it, Kevin? Can you get Liza running again?”

“Haaah~... Doesn’t look like it,” Kevin said as he closed the hood of the van. Or at least tried to. The front of the van was too damaged to properly shut, leaving the banged-up inside exposed for all to see.

“It’ll be quite expensive to turn her in to a mechanic”, Bell remarked without much enthusiasm. “And now that little Eden is gone, we won’t be paid for all this trouble either.”

“I’m also quite worried about Miwari, letting her be taken away like that makes me feel kind of bad,” Kevin said.

“Me too,” Boss said.

The three of them simultaneously sighed. The lives of small fries are never easy no matter what world you live in.

But then suddenly.

Klank——!!

Along with the shockwave and the accompanying sound of glass shattering, the figure of a white-hair angel wearing a butler uniform holding two weapons in each hand appeared on top of the already broken wreckage of their precious van.

He pointed his pistols at Boss and commanded her

“Stop.”

Looking at the silver light of the wings of a High-Ranked angel. Boss gulped and silently put her hands up as a sign of surrender.

Kevin and Bell, who immediately tried to run away the moment they felt the first hint of danger, turned the corner only to be confronted by a certain white-hair maid.

She pressed her ice-formed blades into their chests, delicately enough so as to not pierce their skin. Her blue eyes shone with bottomless killing intent.

Kevin and Bell felt a freezing cold down their spines, and they slowly stepped back in the direction of Boss.

“It would seem…” The white-haired angel in a butler uniform dematerialized his pistols as he looks around the wrecked surrounding before jumping down in front of the three. “That you owe us some explanation.”

The three ‘adventurers’ glanced at each other from the corner of their eyes, and realized that they were in more trouble than they originally thought.

—Much, much more.

—————……….